AT 500295 B1 discloses an anti-skid chain for being mounted onto a vehicle tire on a wheel rim, which is, on the parts of the chain that may come into contact with the wheel rim, provided with a rim protection element that forms a bracket for a tension cable present on the outer side of the tire. The known rim protection elements have brackets through which the tension cable can be pulled with the aim of tensioning. A disadvantage of this known embodiment is above all that in an anti-skid chain, in which the tension cable is arranged on the inner side of the tire and only a side cable is provided on the outer side of the tire, no good connection of the track chain on the side cable is ensured.
EP 1 520 734 A2 discloses a tensioning device for snow chains, in which the track chain is hung on hooks into the side cable. A crosshead of this tensioning device surrounds the chain link of the side cable onto which such a hook is hooked, while leaving the hook itself free, so that it can come into contact with the wheel rim as before. In EP 0 976 588 A1 a rim protection device is described that wholly surrounds the hooks together with the end links of the continuous chain mesh.
In order to connect the track chain onto tension cables, including an inner cable, U.S. Pat. No. 2,685,321 suggests attaching clips that nevertheless can be displaced along the tension cable.
EP 0 911 194 A2 and JP 2002-301918 A disclose clamps for fastening the ends of continuous chain meshes to a side cable, which are nevertheless not set up for fastening to a ductile cable.
In another approach aiming to enable connection of the track chain onto the tension cable, in which no displacement along the tension cable needs to be worried about, the sheathing of the tension cable has discontinuities, so that the tension cable has a smaller cross section in these places. The discontinuities of the sheathing are used to fasten hooks for connecting the tension cable with the track chain. This prior-art method has the disadvantage, however, that it is very elaborate and hence imposes high manufacturing costs. Moreover, the hooks can rotate about the tension cable as an axle, even if lateral slippage can be largely prevented by the sheathing. Mounting is, however, made more difficult by the fact that the hooks can be rotated about the tension cable, in particular if this is an inner cable.